Color Me Hogwarts
by Marauder Number Fiive
Summary: It's Christmas break and something horrible has happened at Hogwarts! So what does Sirius do? He comes up with a contest to fix everything, concerning all five students left at school! R


**I don't own Harry Potter.**

Dumbledore looked around the Great Hall, at his staff members and all five students that had stayed at school for the holidays. Severus Snape always stayed at school for the holidays - Dumbledore knew about the boy's troubles at home and didn't blame him. There was a Fourth Year Hufflepuff, Joanna Dalter, whose parents were recently murdered at the hands of Lord Voldemort. With only a struggling older brother, the fourteen-year-old girl had no where else to stay. Then there was Lily Evans, James Potter, and Sirius Black, the three Gryffindors that had chosen to remain at school for the holidays. Dumbledore had asked the Head students to stay behind to help him with planning and such. Sirius, always loyal to his best friend, tagged along to as he put it 'add some spice to everyone's lives.'

Because of the guests, the Great Hall was eerily quiet. Severus had always preferred to keep to himself even when in the company of his fellow Slytherins. It was highly unlikely that after seven years at Hogwarts he would open up, let alone to a Hufflepuff and three Gryffindors. Joanna just kept pushing her food around her plate, not bothering to take a bite. Lily had tolerated Sirius and James, but wasn't on the most friendly terms with the two of them, so she too was quiet that night. Now one might expect that the two Marauders would be extravagantly loud, but they were always quiet at meals. If they spoke, they might miss a chance to stuff their faces with as much food as humanly possible.

The old professor glanced up at the ceiling. The snow had been falling harshly for the past four days and this day was no different. The snow was incessant, it had not ceased for the entire Christmas break. Tomorrow would be a Saturday, and was supposed to be the last chance for the remaining five to go into Hogsmeade to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Sadly, it looked as if this event would not be happening.

Dumbledore stood up from his seat at the end of the table. Normally silence would have fallen instantly, but silence had already swept over the diners an hour ago. With a small clear of his throat Dumbledore announced, "As you all know, there is about twelve feet of snow outside. We are obviously snowed in, meaning that the trip to Hogsmeade tomorrow must be cancelled. I apologize to all of you for this bad luck."

It appeared as if Dumbledore was about to sit down once again when his eyes started to twinkle and he said pleasantly, "Sirius Black, please report to me once the rest of the Great Hall is empty. Thank you."

Taking this as their cue to leave, four students and the faculty left the Great Hall. Sirius clapped James on his back and the old wizard hear him say, "I'll see you later mate."

The black haired teen approached his head master and immediately said, "I swear sir, it wasn't me that set off those fireworks yesterday. But you know, Jo looked kinda shifty all day, it must have been her. Or maybe even Snape, he could have used his greasy hair for rocket fuel!"

The gray haired man just smiled at the boy. "No matter about the fireworks, Mr. Black, I found them rather amusing myself. And seeing as no one was caught at the scene of the crime, there cannot be any detentions issued, much to Mr. Flich's dismay. But no, I wanted to know how you are at cooking."

"Cooking, Professor?" Sirius asked puzzled.

"Well you did mention that you wanted to 'spice up our lives,'" Dumbledore smiled.

A fiendish grin overcame Sirius's face. "What did you have in mind sir?"

**xXx**

It was a half hour until midnight. Everyone was in bed, sleeping soundly except for a certain eighteen-year-old boy. With his long black hair, he carried himself up to the Gryffindor tower. Pulling out his hazel wood wand, he pointed it directly at the portrait of the Fat Lady and said, "_Retratio Blanconias."_

All around him, the teenager felt magic draining like a whirlpool, the focal point at the very tip of his wand. Several portraits were awakened and started to scream. There was a great burst of light and suddenly it was gone.

'Just as it should have gone,' he thought to himself. 'That'll teach them.' Smiling smugly to himself, the boy prepared himself for the long journey back toward the bottom of the castle.

**xXx**

Lily Evans woke up the next morning at around ten in the morning. The Gryffindor Tower was scarily noiseless, a huge contrast to the normal hustle and bustle at this time on a Saturday morning.

Lily rolled out of bed and wandered over to look out of the window next to Emmeline's bed. Or at least she would have looked out the window if she was able to see three feet in front of her. Jack Frost was here to stay it appeared. Huge snowflakes were still falling by the thousands from the great big open sky on the cold December morning.

The Head Girl walked over to her trunk and pulled out an old pair of black sweatpants and a beat up lavender t-shirt. Why not? It's not like she had anyone to impress today. Not even bothering to change in the bathroom, Lily stripped out of her pajamas and pulled on her clothes and a pair of purple flip-flops. Just barely running her fingers through her hair, she walked out of her dorm and into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Immediately, Lily let out a high pitched scream, loud enough to wake the rest of all the Gryffindor students. All two of them. Almost instantly, James came barreling down the stairs, Sirius hot on his heels. His wand was raised and he had obviously been awoken by Lily's screech - he was only wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants and his hair was even messier than usual. His eyes held that 'Where's the fire?' dazed look, darting back and forth to search for the danger. Sirius was in a similar state, except that his hair was somehow still perfectly in place.

"Whatssuh matta Evs?" James mumbled tiredly, trying hard to look more awake.

"It...it...it's gone!" Lily stuttered in shock. "Just blank!"

The two shirtless boys **(Oh how I wish I was there...) **looked around. Their mouths fell open in shock. The Gryffindor Common Room's portraits, normally bustling with color, were exactly as Lily said - blank. All the color was drained from them, they were completely void of color...just blank.

"Whoa," James said. Sirius just nodded his head in agreement. The people in the paintings, normally proud to the point of obnoxiousness of their vibrant colors, were hiding behind bushes, trees, couches, whatever they could find in their portraits in shame.

Sirius cried, "Be right back guys!" and sprinted back up to his dorm. When he returned, he had a gray shirt half way on and threw an orange one at James. "Now we can go," he said.

The three teenagers walked cautiously down the halls. It was the creepiest they had ever seen Hogwarts. No color, no brightness, just white and gray. The castle was no longer silent - instead it was full of the despairing sounds of portraits moaning about the shame of the loss of their colors.

"This is scary," Lily whispered from between the two tall boys. They had instinctly put her in the middle as to protect her. They silently nodded their heads, eyes wide on alert for anything or anyone suspicious.

They made it down to the Great Hall without an incident occurring. They were the last ones to arrive for breakfast. Snape was still being his usual sullen self, not bothering to look up from his plate of bacon as they approached the table. Joanna was in shock, openly gaping at the colorless paintings. The teachers too were in shock, discussing quietly to each other about what should be done.

The three of them had just sat down when McGonagall came over to them, hopping mad. "You two," she said shortly. "What did you do?"

James immediately threw his hands up. "I have an alibi!" he cried. "I was with Lily all night last night, then I went to bed."

"It's true," Lily nodded.

"Fine. But you," McGonagall turned toward Sirius.

"Hey McG!" Sirius said innocently. "I talked to Professor Dumbledore there and then went on my merry way to bed!"

"How do I know that you went directly to bed?" McGonagall threatened.

"He's telling the truth, Minerva," Dumbledore added. "After Mr. Black and I were done talking, I personally escorted him back to Gryffindor Tower."

Sirius just nodded his head angelically. "But if you're looking for the person who did it, I keep telling everyone that Joanna over there looks kinda shifty..."

"Shut it Black."

"Yes ma'am."

Tiny Professor Flitwick called out in his squeaky voice, "Could all the teachers please assemble over here for a staff meeting?"

The adults all gathered around the end of the table, surrounding Professor Dumbledore while talking in hushed tones. Sirius, who was sitting directly across form Dumbledore at the other end of the table, called out in a much deeper voice, "Could all the students please get over here so I can talk?"

Joanna scooted down two seats so she was sitting next to Lily and Snape just stared at the four of them. "That means you too Snapey," Sirius called out in a falsely cheery voice.

"What is it Black?" the Slytherin snapped.

"Okay rule one," Sirius whispered. "We have to be quiet, just like the teachers, so they don't overhear us. I highly doubt that McG would approve of this plan. Okay, so as you can all see, the portraits are lacking in color. It is our duty as students of this fine establishment to restore them to color."

"Wow Sirius, that's surprisingly mature of you," Lily commented. "Any ideas on what spell whoever used?"

"Not a clue," Sirius said airily. "But we're not reversing the jinx. In fact, we won't need our wands at all."

"...We're not?" Lily asked, very confused. How on Earth would they bring color back to Hogwarts without using their wands?

"Nope. Instead, we're going to use these." With a flick of his wand, Sirius had conjured five boxes of Celina's Colorful Crayons - 5000 per pack!

"Nice mate!" James high-fived him.

"Ohhh I love art!" Joanna squealed.

Snape just shot him a blank look. "You have got to be kidding me Black. You're how old? Seventeen? And you still play with crayons?"

"Eighteen, Snape," Sirius corrected him. "Just as old as you are. By the way, I missed your birthday last week, happy belated! But anyway, I figured that this would be fun...at least until the teachers realize what we're doing then it will most likely turn into a horrible mess, but that's what's going to be most of the fun. Oh and none of you have a choice, otherwise I will be forced to throw you out of Gryffindor Tower and into the blizzard."

"Can't wait," Snape said in a flat voice.

"Now I've decided to turn this into a little contest," Sirius continued. "Whoever can color the most portraits without getting caught by a teacher wins! The winner gets a special prize, which shall remain a secret until the very end. Any questions?" Sirius paused, looking into the faces of his peers. James looked extremely excited at this idea, Lily looked somewhat apprehensive, Joanna was still marveling at all the art supplies, and Snape looked plain old pissed off. "Okay good. Now everyone take a box, that's the way. On your mark. Get set. GO!"

At Sirius's final word, the two Gryffindor boys sprinted off into the corridors. Lily and Joanna ran after them at a slightly slower pace, afraid to look foolish. Snape, totally uninterested in the game, casually walked out of the Great Hall, accompanied by the many stares of the teachers.

**xXx**

It was a half hour into the game and Joanna was on a roll. She was an art freak, loving anything that had to do with creating. Jo personally preferred painting to crayons, but beggars couldn't be choosers. She just simply adored the feeling of the smooth crayons in her hands, the way that they freely flew over the portraits. The fact that the inhabitants of the portraits were moving while she was trying to color them just added an extra little challenge.

Joanna had always loved art, but had recently kind of given up on it. In early October one of those dreaded black Ministry owls flew down to her and delivered the news that her mother, a half-blood, and her father, a pure-blood, had been murdered by Death Eaters. Her father had been a well-known Auror and had been hunted for a while. After that she lost the will to work; It had always been her father that had encouraged her art. He was her muse and he was gone.

Now all Joanna had left was her older brother Brendon, with whom she didn't really get along. Brendon had been in Ravenclaw and was too smart for his own good. He couldn't hold a job for more than a month, always being fired for talking back to his fellow employees or even his employer. When they were kids Brendon had always been snobby, but they were really distanced after the death of their parents.

The Death Eaters had visited Brendon before they visited their parents. They basically told him that he could either die or reveal the location of his parents. Brendon being the whimp that he was immediately ratted out his parents and ran for it once the Death Eaters had gone.

Joanna used her time to reflect as she started on her eighteenth picture. She really loved Sirius for coming up with this game, she had missed art so much. And Sirius was so handsome and so rich. Maybe he would come and whisk her away to some magnificent apartment in London where they would live happily ever after and she would never have to see her brother again.

Just as she was fantasizing about their wedding day, a loud voice cleared behind her. Startled, Jo dropped her cerulean crayon she had been using and quickly turned around.

"Well, Ms. Dalter, it seems that you have lost Mr. Black's game," the Head Master announced with a twinkle in his eye.

"I'm sorry Professor, it was just part of the game, I really didn't mean anything by it," Joanna blabbered ashamedly, not looking Dumbledore in the eye.

"No matter, no matter, it was all in good spirit," Dumbledore brushed the apology off. "But really, you are quite the artist. If you could please follow me to my office, there you could wait to see who next joins you. Also I would like to discuss with you if you have any interest in painting several portraits yourself."

For the first time in a while Joanna let out a genuine smile. "Sure thing Professor."

**xXx**

Sirius was humming some Muggle rock song to himself as he stepped back to admire his work. It had taken him nearly a half hour to do just one portrait, but boy was it worth it. Once the contest had started, Sirius immediately darted up to the Gryffindor Common Room for some revenge.

"Oh, the love of my life, you have never looked more dashing," Sirius said sarcastically.

"Sirius Black, you'll be lucky if I ever allow you into the Common Room again!" she threatened.

"Oh love, you and I both know that that's an empty threat as long as I know the password!" he said cheerily. Really, this contest had gotten him into a wonderful mood. He got to deface school property and might even win a prize at the end!

Sirius knew right away that he would have to be the one to do the portrait of the Fat Lady. Just last week he had spent a rather cold night sleeping outside when she refused to let him enter after an early morning snack.

'The password's changed five minutes ago!' she had screamed at him tiredly. Seriously, who on Earth changed passwords at two in the morning?

Because of that little incident the Fat Lady was now boasting a marvelous goatee with a curly mustache to match. Her hair looked as if a five-year-old had drawn it, with just a bunch of straight lines sticking up all over the place. Around her eyes were horribly crooked glasses and she had large buck teeth with one tooth on the bottom missing. On her nose was a giant wart, kind of like how Muggles pictured ugly witches. Her eyelashes were like spider legs, disgustingly thin and long. Sirius had not been kind to her body either. The Fat Lady had already been well...fat, but Sirius was sure to add some extra lumps and bumps. He had then put her in this horrible puke green mini dress that did not flatter her over grown figure whatsoever. Her hands were the size of snitches, while her fingers looked as if they were beaters' bats - short and thick. For feet Sirius had drawn canal boats that were a sickly shade of orange. To top off this masterpiece, Sirius had scrawled above her "I LIKE LITTLE GIRLS!"

Sirius was just about done packing up his pack of crayons when he heard a shriek behind him. 'Oh shit,' he thought.

Bracing himself with a fabulous smile, Sirius turned around to find his Transfiguration teacher gaping at the Fat Lady with a sick expression on her face. Just his luck.

"Sirius Oberon Black!" Her voice was so high and loud that Sirius was sure that it could be heard several miles away by dolphins.

"Oh, Professor!" he cried, bringing her into a hug. "And here was me thinking you didn't care about me! But you remembered my middle name!"

Sirius was hoping that this would throw her off track. His wish did not come true. Grabbing his arm in a death grip, McGonagall hissed, "Dumbledore's office. NOW."

"Jeez, okay I get it. No need to hold me so hard...DAMMIT WOMAN THOSE NAILS HURT!"

**xXx**

It had been a little over a half hour and James had thoroughly colored eleven pictures. He was bored of coloring though. He pulled out the Marauders' Map and opened it. Quickly glancing around, he saw Joanna sitting in Dumbledore's office with the Professor. Sirius was being dragged down a flight of stairs by McGonagall, most likely to Dumbledore's office.

He finally saw the name he was looking for_. Lily Evans _was one corridor away, near the Charms classrooms. Slughorn was slowly approaching her, about two hallways away.

James quickly cleared the map and sprinted off toward the direction where Lily was. There she was, standing in the middle of the hall diligently working on a picture of several giants.

Due to his Animagus form, a stag, James had an acute sense of hearing. He heard Slughorn huffing and puffing away from the other side of the hall. He figured that they had two minutes before he would be within sight.

"Lily!" he shout-whispered. She didn't react...she must have not heard him. James really had to get moving now, Slughorn would be rounding the corner any minute. Making up his mind, he started at a run toward the Head Girl. Swiftly placing one hand over her mouth and another on her waist, he lifted her up onto his shoulder and ran the two of them into an empty broom closet.

"JMS WT MRLIN UO HIK YO DING CRYIG E LK HAT?" Even through his hand, his lovely Lily's voice still carried extremely loud, if not a little muffled.

"SHHH!" he insisted, pressing his ear to the door. From what he could tell, Slughorn was most definitely in that corridor now. Lily, however, was still screaming too loudly to realize this. James needed to shut her up and fast.

He quickly removed his hand from her mouth and replaced them with his lips. She gave a little scream of shock at first, but was rapidly giving into the kiss.

James put his hands on her waist while her hands wound their way up his muscular shoulders and onto his neck. They began to play with the hairs on the back of his neck while James completely encircled her tiny waist and pulled her even closer. Letting out a gasp of pleasure, James took this opportunity to stick his tongue into her mouth. He sucked on hers gently, then the kiss returned to one of hot, fiery passion. Lily's hands moved further up onto his head and wound their fingers into his black curly hair. James broke the kiss and started to kiss up and down her neck, stopping to suck on it here and there. As he began to use his tongue, his hands crawled up Lily's shirt. They were so close to her breasts when...

"OH MERLIN!" shouted a deep voice. As if they had received an electric shock, Lily and James jumped away from each other. Blinking from the sudden light, they looked in the doorway to see their Potions Professor beaming at the two of them. "Oh ho ho!" he laughed at the two furiously blushing teens. "I always knew that the two of you would end up together! Now as happy as I am, snogging in broom closets is strictly forbidden, as is coloring in empty portraits. Don't even try to think of an excuse Potter," Slughorn said quickly. "I see those crayons spilled on the floor there. Now pick them up and we'll all head up to Dumbledore's office!"

Slughorn stepped aside to allow more light into the small space as Lily and James began to pick up all 10,000 crayons from the two boxes that had spilled. "James, will you go out with me?" Lily whispered as their fingers brushed each other while trying to pick up a pink crayon.

"Sure!" he said eagerly. "I mean...if you want to. That's cool."

"Good. That way we can snog more," she commented slyly.

"I knew you couldn't resist me," he growled.

James was about to pull her into another kiss when Slughorn's voice called out, "Don't even think about it Potter." The two flushed beet red again and hastily continued to pick up the crayons.

**xXx**

When Lily and James arrived at Dumbledore's office, Sirius and Joanna were sitting there, enjoying lemon drops with the professor. "Ah and here's Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. Welcome! Lemon drops?"

"Thank you Professor," they both said as they each took a sticky sweet.

"Now make yourselves comfortable while we wait for Mr. Snape to join us. Ah, here's Professor Flitwick with him now!"

"Here he is Dumbledore!" Flitwick squeaked. "Found him coloring down in the dungeons!"

"Thank you Professor, you may go now," Dumbledore dismissed him.

"Snapey I'm touched!" Sirius cried happily. "You played! Oh I knew you didn't hate us!" Snape just shot him a dirty look. "Okay maybe you do..."

"Please, Mr. Snape sit," Dumbledore said as he flicked his wand to conjure yet another chair. "Now I think you all have a right to know what's going on here. I decided last night that all of you, and the teachers, would need some entertainment since I had to cancel the Hogsmeade trip today. So I asked Mr. Black for some assistance and he suggested that he had always really wanted to turn Hogwarts into a coloring book. I gave him a simple spell to drain all the colors from the portraits and it was done! Now to see who won the contest," he continued on, ignoring the gaping looks of the four students and the smug smile of Sirius. "How many did all of you color?"

"Seventeen and a half," Joanna said as she was the first to come out of shock.

"Eleven," James said, somewhat disappointed that Jo had beaten him.

"One, but it was totally worth it," Sirius gushed. "I have pictures! And I must say, the Fat Lady has never looked more ravishing!"

"Fourteen," said Lily. "I could have gotten more, but SOMEBODY abducted me."

"Hey, I saved you from Slughorn!" James pouted.

"But we still got caught," Lily pointed out.

James insisted, "Yeah, but you got to snog me!"

"You guys snogged?" Sirius asked, shocked.

"Yup!" James confirmed happily.

"Wow, my game worked better than I thought it would!" Sirius, of course, wanted some credit.

"Oh Merlin, that's so sweet! Best of luck to the two of you!" Joanna gushed, closer to her normally cheery personality now that she had started art again.

"Aww, thanks Joanna! By the way I love your shoes where did you get them?" Lily asked.

"These? I got them at Shawna's Shoe Shop in Diagon Alley!"

"Merlin I love that store! One time I got the cutest pink pumps ever, and when I walked they -"

"THREE HUNDERED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN," Snape shouted over everyone.

They all stared at him, just blinking. "I'm sorry Mr. Snape...what?" Dumbledore asked.

"Three hundred and eight-seven," Snape repeated. "I colored three hundred and eighty-seven portraits."

"Whoa Snapey!" Sirius whistled. "How'd you color that much?"

"...You never said they had to be fully colored," Snape pointed out. "All I did was put a black line through all of them." For proof, he showed them his box; All the crayons were still perfectly intact, except for the black one which was no more than a little stub."

"Well good for you Snape!" Sirius said. "Atta way to find a loophole! And for your prize, you get to keep the crayons! Now if everyone else could please hand them in to me, I need to owl these back to my cousin. Thank you. Thank you. No no, thank you!"

"But...all the good colors are gone..." Snape said dejectedly.

**Well there you go! This one's super duper long and I don't know if it exactly made sense. When Sirius cast the spell and thought that it would be a long walk back to the bottom of the school, he was going down to the Kitchens to get some food. I was thinking about how cool it would be if Hogwarts was turned into a giant coloring book. And just so you know this took me a very long time...it's 4530 words! Lots of crayons and cookies for all who review!**

**Isabel**


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